Another college math question

Question

if the circulation for newspaper 1 is 386 thousand more than the circulation for newspaper 2 and their combined circulation is 2506 thousand find the circulation for each newspaper 

Answer 1

Let's say the circulation for newspaper 1 is X. Then the circulation for newspaper 2 is smaller, by 386, so we can call it (X - 386). It's really 386,000 of course, but we can leave off the extra zeros for now.

 

Anyway, the total of both would have to be X + (X - 386) = 2506. This simplifies to:

 

2X - 386 = 2506

 

If you can solve that equation, you'll have the circulation for newspaper 1, in thousands.

 

Does this give you a push in the right direction?